Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics

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1 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Instructor Paul O Gorman, pog@mit.edu Teaching Assistant Elezhan Zhakiya (e.zhakiya@gmail.com) Webpage

2 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Meeting times Monday, Wednesday and Friday Classroom Prerequisites Multivariate Calculus (18.02) Physics I: Classical Mechanics (8.01)

3 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Course description: Introduces students to the dynamical processes that govern the atmosphere, ocean, and climate. Topics include Earth's radiation budget, convection and clouds, the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean, and climate change. Illustrates underlying mechanisms through laboratory demonstrations with a rotating table, and through analysis of atmospheric and oceanic data. Grading: 1. Homework assignments (45%) 2. Class participation (5%) 3. A mid-term exam (15%) 4. A final, closed book, exam (35%)

4 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Homework Policy: 1. Collaboration is allowed for problem sets 2. Students must write up the problem sets on their own

5 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Textbook Marshall, John, and R. Alan Plumb. Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics: An Introductory Text. Boston, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2007.

12.003 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Textbook Marshall, John, and R. Alan Plumb. Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics: An Introductory Text.

6 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Textbook Marshall, John, and R. Alan Plumb. Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics: An Introductory Text. Boston, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, Other references Hartmann. Global Physical Climatology. Academic Press. This book is useful for both atmospheric and oceanic sections of the course, especially chapters 1-7. Wallace and Hobbs. Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. Academic Press. Good qualitative discussion of many of the topics we will cover in atmospheric science. Stewart. Introduction to Physical Oceanography. Available online. A not-too-technical introduction to physical oceanography. Pierrehumbert, Raymond T. Principles of Planetary Climates. Cambridge University Press. Useful for discussion of radiative transfer and a range of planetary atmospheres. Neelin, David J. Climate Change and Climate Modeling. Cambridge University Press. Includes useful descriptions of the climate system and climate modeling.

12.003 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Course syllabus The global energy balance of the Earth (September) The general circulation of the atmosphere

7 Introduction to Atmosphere, Ocean, and Climate Dynamics Course syllabus The global energy balance of the Earth (September) The general circulation of the atmosphere (October) The general circulation of the ocean (November) The Earth s climate (December) Laboratory experiments Infrared radiation Convection Condensation Rotating flow (several)

8 Example experiment: Large-scale eddies in the atmosphere

9 A brief introduction: Five important aspects of atmospheres, oceans and climate that you will learn about in this class

10 1) How does the greenhouse effect help to determine the Earth s equilibrium temperature?

11 2) What governs the occurrence of clouds and convection in the atmosphere? (e.g., how to tell whether convection is about to occur) Developing convection Deep convection over Africa seen from ISS

12 3) What controls the strength of the westerly jet streams aloft, and what drives the surface winds?

13 4) Why are ocean currents stronger on the western side of ocean basins? Northward surface current speed

14 5) What does the ice albedo feedback imply for climate stability, and how difficult is it for the Earth to enter or leave a snowball?

15 For each topic: We will learn about the phenomenon and seek to understand it using radiative transfer, thermodynamics and fluid dynamics

16 Lecture 2 1) Characteristics of the atmosphere 2) Introduction to the effects of fast rotation on fluid flow

17 Experiment 1: Dye stirring with and without rotation

Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate Dynamics

12.003 Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate Dynamics Instructor Raffaele Ferrari, 54-1420 raffaele@mit.edu Teaching Assistants TAs: Allison Wing and Rebecca Dell Webpage http://www.mit.edu/~raffaele/12.003 12.003